Consensio

We are not trained to listen to our own assumptions. In my current workplace , we highlight the dizzying effect of assumptions on our work environment and outcomes. In our rational thinking society, assumptions are part of the philosophy. It goes like this:

The human at work is a rational/economic being who will trade human discretion and social interaction for money. Managers make decisions, control is assumed, training is task oriented. People act as extensions of machines. A person is a redundant part.

Managers live in ‘Philosophy, assumptions and theory=”The Talk”.
Employees live in organisation and practice. =”The Walk”.
Leaving assumptions and being present to take responsibility for what is said and and done is one of my biggest learning curves every day.

I am reading ‘The Passion of the Western Mind’ by Tarnas and try to piece together the obvious argument, that our Western definition of intangible assets is a Platonist understanding of the subject.

We strive to match Plato’s world view when we describe the intangible as follows: we interpret the world in terms of archetypes (good-bad, beauty-ugly, single-multi, intangible-tangible, asset-non-asset…).We strive to define it by using changeless absolutes and look for the essence of universal truth and structure about ‘intangible assets’.

We ask what is the precise relation between the pattern of ‘intangible asset’ and the empirical world of everyday reality. Why is this important to the way we do business 2000 years later? (more…)